Behind A Mask
by JustJustine014
Summary: Is it really that easy to be a power ranger? What goes on behind the masks? How do they handle the burden of saving the world?
1. An Insecure Beginning

~ I do not own Power Rangers. This story is fan-made and created due to personal interest

"Why? Why me? There are billions of people in the world, but Gosei picked me and four other teenagers to become power rangers. Why would some galactic space alien decide to put together a team of uncanny superheroes who were still in high school? I mean really, we're all just starting junior year. How are we supposed to handle all of this? How am I supposed to handle all of this crap? I wanna help, but what good could I do? Everyone seems like they are cut out for this except for me."

"Troy just moved here, but he's already proven to be a strong, loyal, and compassionate leader. He's a skilled martial artist and his decision making skills are unquestionable. Jake's strength is admirable due to his years of playing soccer and would lighten up the team with his corny jokes. Even Jake's best friend, Noah, fit in perfectly on the team. He isn't the strongest member, but he is certainly the smartest. He could probably become the next Einstein if he tried hard enough. I still don't understand how they became best friends, but their relationship is unbreakable. I guess Noah is the brains and Jake is the brawn, they complete each other.

"Then there's Gia, my best friend Gia. I've known her my whole life and learned that she's practically perfect. Any guy would drool over, but she isn't the shallow type either. She knows to respect others and herself while maintaining her famous tough image. In a way, she is like the combination of Noah, Jake, and Troy with her quick thinking, natural athletic abilities, and strong leadership skills. No wonder she was made second in command."

Emma sighed, "Then there's me. What good am I? What can I do?"

Emma didn't even notice Gia come in through her room's open window and was snapped out of her thoughts when Gia tapped her shoulder.

"Emma? You okay? Gia asked

Emma quickly turned around, put a fake smile on, and tried to come up with a quick lie.

.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just thinking of what trail to take later so I can take some nice pictures.

However, Gia knew something was up. She knew that look on Emma's face. Emma and Gia's parents became best friends in middle school and stayed that way up until now. Their parent's friendship was inseparable and so was theirs. This caused Emma and Gia to pretty much grow up with each other, they were practically siblings. However, once Emma's mom, Elaine, died from a car accident a few years ago, something about Emma changed. During Elaine's funeral Emma didn't shed one tear, but at the same time, Gia could see how devastated Emma was. She put on a façade to hide her real feelings.

Emma became the type of person who would keep things to herself and would make sure no one would worry about her. She always put others' needs before herself and would do anything to make sure those who were close to her were okay. Emma's heart was made of gold, she wasn't the strongest or smartest, but she would never give up. Selfless was the perfect word to describe her.

Gia shook her head, "Emma I know you're not okay. I can read you like a book. We can talk about it if you want. You can't hide everything."

Emma didn't want to lie to Gia, but she didn't want her to know how she felt either, "Just a few insecurities. Nothing big, it's all good.

"Emma, I can see you putting up your walls. Your fake smile is coming out. C'mon, you can tell me anything."

"It's nothing." Emma said a little more sternly. "I'm just gonna go riding around on my usual trail to get some fresh air. I'll keep my morpher on me in case a monster shows up. Meet you at school later!"

Gia rolled her eyes and replied saying, "Okay fine, see you later."

"Be safe on your walk to school!" Emma said as she grabbed her backpack and bike.

"Says the girl who's venturing off in the woods where anything can happen." Gia mumbled

"I heard that!" Emma said as she shut the door.


	2. Not So Sweet Lullabies

Emma continued on her trail until she finally reached her destination. No one really used this trail, so Emma decided to just leave her bike next to the tree. She then took out her camera and started taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. The beautiful green pasture and the majestic trees with pink blossoms was absolutely stunning. However, she couldn't keep her mind off her feeling of being useless. Not only that, but she has been dealing with some of her own personal problems. Not even Gia knew about them and that's what Emma hoped to keep it at.

Letting out a big sigh, Emma mumbled, "If only they knew."

Emma just stared at grass and hugged herself. A tear slipped as Emma started to sing her late mother's signature song.

"Flowers bloom, bloom and share your sweet perfume

Flowers bloom, bloom so many things to see…."

Suddenly, Emma heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned around.

"Troy?" Emma asked with a red embarrassed face. "What… what are you doing here?"

Troy just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I was just out for a morning jog and saw you pass by. I tried calling out to you, but you didn't notice.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't notice. I.."

"I didn't know you had such a beautiful voice. You know, you really have a talent there."

Emma blushed and replied saying, "Thanks. I got it from my mom. She used to sing it to me all the time before she passed away. Sometimes I sing it to myself to keep her memory alive, it makes me feel like she's still here."

"She passed away?

"Yeah, about two years ago my mom and I were driving home from the mall. Some guy was drunk and rammed right into my mom's side of the car. The car flipped over and she was losing blood fast. Adrenaline pumped through me and I forgot about my own injuries so I could try to help her. I tried to stop the bleeding. I tried to comfort her. I tried calling 911, but they didn't come fast enough."

Emma sighed, "She died in my arms from head trauma and blood loss. I couldn't do anything. I felt so helpless"

As Emma finished the story, she stared at the ground and unknowingly clutched her hands tightly. Troy saw this and gave her a soft look. He walked over to her and gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"There's nothing you could have done. You tried everything you could possibly do."

"But.."

"You tried your best Emma. You.."

"I could've done more!" Emma said as she glared at Troy. "I could've done more, and she would still be alive. She would still be alive, it wouldn't have been my fault, and things at home would be a lot better!"

Troy furrowed his brow when he heard that last part. He was about to question it until he heard a terrible wretched sound.

Both Emma and Troy fell to the ground and clutched their heads in pain. It was absolutely dreadful and sounded like a high screeching tire on repeat.

After what seemed like hours of torture, the terrible sound finally stopped. Emma and Troy slowly pushed themselves up, but the painful ringing in their ears made it hard to move. Though the awful music stopped, the pain was definitely still there.

"Let's head on over to school to tell the others." Troy said while flinching. Even the sound of his own voice caused him great pain.

Emma gave Troy a quick nod and made their way back to school.

-School-

"Have any of you seen Emma?" Gia asked as she walked up to Noah and Jake. "I didn't see her in Mr. Burley's class and she wasn't here to meet up with me this morning."

"Sorry Gia, I haven't seen her at all today. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen Troy there either." Jake frowned.

Gia's heart skipped a beat as a million possible scenarios ran through her head. Last time she saw Emma, she said that she was going to biking in the woods. Gia's stomach turned at the thought of something bad happening to Emma..

She could've run into a monster, or maybe she ran into a wild animal. Though Emma was a strong individual, she still wouldn't be able to handle one of the monsters by herself. However, running into a wild animal wasn't so great either. Emma is great with animals, but they could still be extremely dangerous.

"Maybe they're just running a little late." Noah suggested.

Gia shook her head worriedly, "Emma's never late though. She's always keeping track of time."

Seeing Gia distressed, Jake put his hand on her shoulder

"It'll be alright Gia, we can look for them once school is over."

"They could be hurt Jake! Anything could've happened to them."

"Just have a little hope. They could be perfectly fine for all we know"

"Get your hands off me Holling." Gia growled." You're either gonna help me look for them, or get lost."

Taking a step back, Jake raised his hands in the air in defeat

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

Gia sighed. "No I'm sorry. It's just…"

Just then, Troy and Emma came in stumbling through the doors. Jake, Gia, and Noah ran over to them as fast as they could.

"Where have you guys been? You've already missed your first class!" Gia exclaimed worriedly

Troy and Emma both winced at the level of her voice

"Don't yell" They both groaned in unison. Their heads were already pounding and screaming in pain

That's when they all noticed pained look on their faces.

"Are you…" Noah started, but was then interrupted by a familiar beeping noise

"Rangers, a new monster called Dizchord has been located in the city. Be cautious of his sound waves, they're powerful enough to send buildings crashing down."

"You don't say." Troy grumbled while rubbing his ears

"I guess that's the terrible sound we heard earlier." Emma said as she looked up to Troy.

Troy nodded and said, "Let's go get this over with guys."

-Battle-

Once the rangers arrived at the city, they found themselves face to face with Dizchord and dozens of loogies.

"I see you have finally decided to join my wonderful concert rangers. Here, allow me to show you my first number!" Dizchord said as he started playing his horrible music, if that's what you could even call it

All the rangers clutched their heads in pain, but Troy and Emma seemed to be doing far worse. While the rangers were on the ground sprawling in pain, the loogies seemed to be amped up, and shot at the rangers.

"Watch out!" Jake yelled

Everyone jumped out of the way in time except for Troy and Emma who couldn't hear a thing. They were sent rolling on the ground demorphed and in agonizing pain.

"We need to retreat and regroup!" Gia suggested. Jake and Noah nodded their heads in agreement and looked over to their demorphed friends. Noah and Jake grabbed Troy and Emma while Gia tried to defend them from the loogies. Once Troy and Emma were in their arms safely, they all teleported back to the command center.


	3. Useless

The rangers all groaned as they ungracefully fell into the command center. Guess they couldn't get the landing down yet.

Gosei's little robotic helper, Tensou, noticed their entrance and used his tiny mechanical wheels to roll over to them.

"It's okay; you'll get the hang of it eventually." Tensou stated as he helped Noah up.

Remembering the state Troy and Emma were in, Gia immediately demorphed and ran to them.

"Are you guys alright?"

"I'm fine, how about you Emma?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Maybe you should get some more rest before the alien shows up again. You guys really took a beating." Noah suggested.

"I think I'll just lay down for a bit." Troy stated

"You should get some rest too Emma." Gia said.

"No I'm fine. I think I'll just get some training done."

"Since when did you become Troy?" Jake chuckled.

"Emma, I really think you should at least lie down." Gia pushed.

"I told you I'm fine."

"If you don't rest up now, you'll have a harder time fighting later."

"I feel perfectly fine though"

"The way you flinch in pain every time I talk tells me otherwise."

Unfortunately, this was true. Emma's head was throbbing in pain, and her eardrums felt like they were going to explode. Every muscle in her body ached, but she wouldn't back down. Troy was most likely in the same exact state as Emma too, except he would actually accept to get some type of rest.

"Em, if you don't rest now, you're not going to be much of a help in the battlefield."

"I'm useless." Emma whispered.

"Emma, I never said ..."

"You didn't have to. It's obvious!"

"Is that what's been bothering you? You've been feeling useless? Em, you're…"

"Useless..." Emma reiterated

"Em, don't say that! You…."

"Just leave me alone!" Emma yelled as she raced past the others.

Gia attempted to grab Emma's arm, but she barely managed to slip past her. Before Gia could do anything else, Emma abruptly teleported out of the command center.

Just as Gia was about to follow Emma, the alien alarm detector went off causing Troy to clutch his head in pain.

"Really?" Troy said painfully.

"Rangers, Dizchord has been located in the park, but be careful, there seems to be another alien life form detected near that area." Gosei stated.

Gia sighed. "I'll go after…"

"No, I'll go after Emma." Troy interrupted. "You three go to the park, and deal with the monster while I go talk to Emma. Hopefully we will be able to meet you there soon.

"Troy, are you sure about this? She's never really had an outburst like this before, she'a usually able to keep a calm composure, which means that this is something serious. I know that we're all friends, but we are still trying to get to know each other; I think I should be the one to talk to her

"It'll be fine Gia, I can handle it. Besides, I wouldn't be much of a help on the battlefield. I can barely withstand the sound of our voices right now." Troy argued.

"Wait, we got to find a way to drown out the monster's noise first. There's no use to go into battle if our eardrums are gonna get blasted like this guy." Jake pointed out as he flicked his thumb towards Troy.

"We were caught off guard." Troy grumbled.

"For once, Jake actually has a good point. I guess there is a brain in that skull of yours." Gia teased.

Forgetting about Troy's injury, Jake clasped his hands together loudly as an idea formed in his head.

"I got it!" Jake yelled excitedly.

"Ugh, Jake, sensitive ears remember?" Troy said while rubbing his ears.

"Oh crap, sorry! Jake said apologetically.

"Just tell them your plan already." Troy complained.

"Ear plugs! We can use ear plugs to simply mute the monster's music. Then, we can fight Dizchord without worrying about the monster destroying our eardrums."

"Jake, that's brilliant! Wow, you actually had a good idea for once, huh that's new. But where are we going to get eardrums from, you don't happen to have any on you, do you? Noah asked

"Uhh, oops I didn't really think about that."

"I knew Jake coming up with a good plan was too good to be true." Gia said while shaking her head.

"Hey!"

After a few more moments of thinking, Noah's suddenly clapped his hands together excitedly. "I know what to do!"

"C'mon, really?" Troy exclaimed while pointing to his ears.

Gia rolled her eyes. "Suck it up Troy, let him speak. Go ahead Noah."

Noah smiled, "Thank you. Anyways, why don't we use our iPods to drown out the monster's noise?"

Noah had a valid point. Each of the rangers patted down themselves to feel for the IPods. Turns out, most of them had theirs. Even though they weren't normal teenagers, they were still teenagers.

"And that's why Noah is the genius nerd in our group." Jake teased.

"Ugh, of course I'm the only one who doesn't have their IPod. I must have left mine inside my backpack at school." Troy grumbled. "Well, I guess I'll figure it out later. You three go on ahead to the park to stop Dizchord. Be careful."

Before leaving, Gia slowly walked up to Troy to warn him.

"Don't let me down Troy, or else that monster's butt won't be the only one I'll be whooping."

"I'll be gentle." Troy promised.

"You better be. If anything happens to her, I know who to kill"

"I'm just going to talk to her. I would never want to hurt anyone here, especially Emma."

Seeing the determined look on Troy's face, Gia decided to put her trust in Troy. She gave Troy a quick nod, and turned around to face the others.

"Let's go kick some alien butt"

Nodding their heads in agreement, the three of them teleported out of the command center to confront Dizchord.

Once the others left, Troy immediately turned his attention to finding Emma. He wouldn't disappoint Gia and he would definitely not let Emma down.

"Tensou, do you think you could send me the coordinates to Emma's location on my morpher?" Troy asked

"You got it!" Tensou replied happily.

"Thanks Tensou, you're the best."

And with that, Troy left the command center so he could go talk to Emma.


	4. A Comforting Conversation

Once Tensou teleported Troy to Emma's location, he immediately started to look for Emma. After searching for a few minutes, he eventually found her sitting next to the same tree he found her near earlier. He walked up to her and expected her to be sobbing, but her face was clearly dry. However, he could tell Emma was still upset by just looking at her eyes.

Before Troy could even say anything, Emma looked up at him, hugged her knees, and said, "I don't want to talk."

"You obviously need to let something out. It can just stay between us; even Gia doesn't have to know.

"I've known Gia my whole life, and I still don't want to talk to her about this. What makes you think I would open up to you? I've known you for three months!"

"You know, it okay to not be okay. You don't have to open up to me if you don't want to, I'm not gonna force, but I'll always be ready if you ever want to talk.. " Troy replied with a soft smile.

"It's fine; I've accepted that I'll be the deadweight of the team. Sorry in advance for all the times I'll screw up."

Troy frowned. He wasn't directly mad at Emma, but was upset that she would put herself down like that.

"Emma…."

"Shouldn't you be fighting with your team anyways?"

Troy decided to sit next to her and gently grabbed her hand.

"We wouldn't be a full team without you."

"Why would you need me? I'm useless."

"You're just as important as the others; it wouldn't be full team without you. Plus, no one ever said you were useless"

"That's what you think" Emma unconsciously whispered.

"What?"

Trying to correct her mistake, Emma came up with a quick response. "Nothing, I just asked, how am I important? Everyone else is amazing, there's nothing I could possibly do to help them. The team would be perfectly fine without me."

"Emma, you don't have to be perfect, no one is. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. We work together as a team to make up for each other's weaknesses"

"I have a bunch of weaknesses though. Sure, I make A's and B's on report cards and get some exercise from all the BMX riding, but I'm nowhere near as strong or smart as Jake and Noah. You're already a great leader, and Gia is like a mixture of all you.

"Stop comparing yourself to the others. Like I said, we all have our own weaknesses. Noah may be smart, but he isn't exactly the strongest guy either. Jake makes up for that with his strength, but he sometimes tends to act before thinking about it. That's probably why they work so well together, they make up for each other's weaknesses.

"But…."

"I'm not exactly perfect either, and the same thing goes for Gia."

Troy faced Emma to make eye contact and almost got lost into her beautiful brown eyes. Truth be told, he developed a crush on Emma ever since they started working together.

In his eyes, she was near perfect; he just needed to show her that without giving the wrong impression. Even though Troy liked her, he knew that it wasn't the right time. He wouldn't become the type of guy that courted the girl while she was vulnerable. It wouldn't be fair or right to Emma if he did that.

"Emma, you're the heart the keeps us functioning. You're the glue that keeps us together. You may not be the strongest or smartest, but you're able to endure. Your perseverance beats all of ours combined. Gia told me about your passion for protecting the earth and helping others before becoming a ranger. She even said that you still continue to volunteer at different shelters and do things like recycle even though you're busy with school and you know, saving the world. You weren't chosen to become a ranger by accident, fate made it happen.

Troy just continued to stare at Emma, waiting for her to say something.

Emma broke the silence when she muttered, "You really mean that?"

Troy smiled and gently squeezed her hand, "With all my heart, and I'm confident that the others feel the same exact way too."

Troy was expecting her to perk up, but he didn't expect this. Emma threw herself at Troy and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in a tight hug.

"Thank you." Emma whispered into Troy's ear 

Troy was happy that Emma couldn't see his face, or else she would have seen him blushing. He had never felt this way with anyone else, his face was as red as a tomtoe. When Emma finally pulled away, he couldn't help but notice a bluish-black bruise on Emma's neck.

"Umm, Emma, what's up with bruise on your neck?" Troy asked worriedly.

Emma's eyes widened, but tried to keep a calm composure.

"Oh you know, just another bruise from one of the monsters we've fought before." She replied casually.

"It's already feeling better." Emma continued as she carefully put her hand over it.

Troy didn't want to dig in or pressure her anymore, so he decided to drop it. However, he would take note of this for future reference.

"Alright, if you say so." Troy said hesitantly.

"As glad as I am to see you feel better, we still have a monster to finish off." Troy said, trying to change the subject.

"Phew, that was close" Emma thought as a wave of relief washed over her.

"Yeah, but how are we going to fight it? I can just barely manage to withstand our voices right now. There's no way we can take another hit like we did last time." Emma stated.

"When there's a will, there a way." Troy smirked as an idea formed in his head.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, confused by Troy's answer.

"I'll explain later. Just follow me for now." Troy declared as he started running off.


	5. The Concert's Finale

On the midst of the battlefield, the three remaining rangers were finishing up the remaining loogies one by one. Luckily, they were able to listen to their music under their helmets. It wasn't able to block out all of the noise, but it was a lot better than writhing on the ground in pain like before. They all had a slight headache, but at least they were able to fight.

Once they finished slashing down the last of the loogies, they turned to the stage to see Dizchord hooking up his guitar to a strange device. Seeing that Dizchord was distracted, the rangers took the opportunity, and shot at the monster. Fortunately, all three shots connected and they were able to catch his attention

"Hey! You're ruining my concert; ugh I should have hired more security guards." Dizchord complained.

Inside their helmets, the rangers rolled the eyes in annoyance. They just wanted to get this battle over with, it was already getting late. The rangers took their respective fighting stances until they felt a stinging pain on their backs. The pain wasn't too bad, but the sudden impact caused them to lose their balance. As they got back up, they turned around to see what had hit them.

"Seems like my client needed some back-up." The strange blue figure said.

"Took them long enough to send me some quality security." Dizchord scoffed "At least I can get this show started! And with device, I can let the whole world enjoy my music!

Gia looked at the boys and said, "We need to stop him, now! We can worry about that other one later."

They all rushed to the stage, but were stopped when the blue figure jumped down in front of them.

"I'm afraid I can't let you bother my client right now. He's in the middle of prepping for a wonderful worldwide concert. Everyone on the whole entire Earth will be able to listen to his astounding songs!"

"Great, now we gotta deal with this feathered bird thing too?" Jake grumbled.

"My name is Vrak, remember that!" He growled as he initiated the fight.

-Battle-

Troy and Emma came just in time to see Jake get flipped by a strange new figure.

"Wait, that's not the same monster we were facing earlier. Don't tell me there's another one." Troy frowned.

"I guess we get to have more fun." Emma replied sarcastically.

Suddenly, Troy and Emma fell to the ground in excruciating pain once again as Dizchord played a chord on his new amped up guitar. This time, the noise was a lot louder, and ten times more painful. The pain started in their heads and slowly traveled down their spines until all of their muscles ached, it was nearly intolerable.

"We need to help them!" Emma yelled as she saw Gia get kicked in the stomach. Seeing her friends in danger, Emma forced herself to stand up. "We have to do something!"

Troy wasn't able to get up completely like Emma, but he managed to get on his knees.

"Emma, you need to sing!" Troy exclaimed with a raised voice to make sure Emma could hear him. The pain was starting to build up; he wasn't sure how much longer he could last. He couldn't even believe Emma was able stand up.

"What? Why?! Don't tell me this was part of your plan." Emma asked nervously.

"Of course it is" Troy smirked.

"But, I can't. No one would probably even hear me."

Though it was hard to move, he willed himself to gently grab Emma's hand. "Yes you can Emma, all you gotta do is believe in yourself. Just sing, and leave the rest to me."

"But…"

"Trust me."

Believing in Troy, Emma closer her eyes, and started to sing the first song that popped into her mind.

"Flowers bloom, bloom and share your sweet perfume.

Flowers bloom, bloom so many things to see

The sweet serenity

Sooth my mind, sooth my soul."

As Emma continued to sing, Troy pulled out his morpher.

"Twist tornado card!" Troy shouted.

Using the card's special powers, Troy carried the sound from Emma's beautiful voice to counteract the monster's noise. After all, the best way to fix bad music was to overpower it with real, genuine music.

"What is that wretched sound?" Dizchord proclaimed while clutching his head in agony

Now that the monster stopped playing, Troy was able to slowly get up and morph.

"Go, Go Megaforce!"Troy cried out he morphed into the red Megaforce ranger.

Now that the monster was weakened, Troy took advantage of the situation and called for his dragon sword. He quickly ran up to the stage and with one quick swipe, destroyed the amplifier. Once Troy watched the amp blow up, he turned to Dizchord, looking at him with a leer

"Oh no." Dizchord gulped.

-Battle-

Everyone turned around to see who stopped the monsters noise and to their surprise, it was Emma!

"Whoa, I didn't know Emma could sing." Noah said in awe.

Vrak growled saying, "If she's the cause of this, then I'll just have to end her!"

"Oh no you don't!" Gia yelled as she sliced through Vrak's chest with her trusty tiger claw.

Seeing that his armor was already getting damaged and Dizchord sparking, Vrak knew that this fight was lost. He quickly dodged the yellow ranger's next attack and shoved her to the ground. While the black and blue rangers were helping her get back up, he took the opportunity to teleport back to his ship for a temporary retreat.

"At least he's out of the way for now." Jake commented.

"Doesn't mean he'll come back again later." Noah added

"Well, we can worry about that later, we need to go help Troy." Gia interrupted.

-Battle-

Troy was handling himself fairly well against the monster. Emma's singing continued to weaken the monster, making it easier and easier for Troy to fight. However, he would need a little more fire power to finish off Dizchord completely.

"Troy!" The others yelled in unison.

Troy turned around for a moment to see his friends running up to him.

"Everyone, I want you to aim your sword at the monster's guitar on his chest. I think that's his weak spot."

Following their leader's orders, each of them charged up their attack and slashed right at the monster's chest. Troy finished off the attack with a final stab at the monster's heart. Seconds later, the monster exploded, only leaving his ash in the dust.

Troy and the others demorphed, took out their headphones, then walked back to where Emma was.

"Wow Emma, I didn't know you could sing so well. I've known you all my life and I have never heard you sing before." Gia complimented.

"Emma, you killed it!" Jake exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah Emma, you did kill it, you practically killed the monster." Noah teased.

Emma was blushing heavily already and didn't even know what to say.

"So, got anymore hidden talents that you need to share?" Gia asked jokingly as she wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulders.

"I do!" Jake said with a raised hand. "Check out my smooth dance moves"

"Oh no." Noah cried as he face palmed himself. He already knew that Jake was a bad dancer and started to chuckle when he saw the disturbed look on the others' faces.

"Pretty good moves Holling." Gia said. Everyone then stared at Gia, shocked that she would say that.

"Thanks!" Jake beamed brightly.

"If you're trying to look like a dying duck." Gia finished with a sly grin plastered all over her face.

"Hey!"

"Okay, maybe it's time to go home, it's getting late." Troy interrupted with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, my parents are going to freak if I don't get home soon. I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to run out of excuses towards why I come home late and with new bruises." Noah expressed.

"Tell me about." The others groaned in unison. They knew they had to keep this whole ranger thing a secret from everyone, even their own parents. It could only put them in a lot more danger.

After everyone said their goodbyes, they all started walking to their respective homes. However, Gia couldn't leave without talking to Troy first.

~Note: Don't worry, I know that I didn't have the megazord battle included. I'm trying to focus more on their personal lives and use the show simply as a guide. However, I'll probably never write about the megazord battles that often. I'm trying to mold the show into something different so I can make it into my own little original story. Also, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story. I honestly didn't think this story would reach over 10 reviews; I really appreciate the feedback!


	6. Not A Home

"Wait, hold on Troy!" Gia called as she ran up to him.

Troy turned around with a curious look on his face and asked, "Yeah what's up?"

"Thanks for bring Emma back, but mind telling me what was wrong in the first place?" Gia asked.

"She's been feeling really insecure and didn't think she was worthy enough…"

"That's ridiculous!" Gia interrupted.

"Let me finish first. She felt like that earlier, but I'm pretty sure she's okay now; she just might need an ego boost from time to time. What worries me is that she had a bruise on her neck. She says it's from fighting the monsters, but my gut tells me otherwise."

"She could be telling the truth, but she does tend to lie about these sort of things. Maybe we should ask her?"

Troy shook his head, "You of all people should know how hard it is for her to open up. We just have to wait until the time is right and be prepared for anything.

Gia let out a big sigh, "I wish I could do more, she's done so much for me."

"Just wait for her to open up."

"I'm worried that she never will, she's been like that ever since her mom died."

Troy gave Gia a comforting smile, "Don't give up on her. She needs you by her side. Besides, you're not going to be alone. You have a whole team to back you up."

"You know, you don't have to suck up to me. I already know you like Emma. You show the same goofy smile and get a glimmer in your eyes every time you see her" Gia exclaimed while rolling her eyes.

"No, no, no. That has nothing to do with it. Well, yeah I like Emma, but um uhh.."

Gia chuckled and gave Troy a pat on the back. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you." Then, Gia leaned in closer to Troy's ear and whispered, "Emma is practically my sister. If you hurt her, then we're gonna have to find new red ranger."

Troy felt a shiver down his spine as the words sunk in. He slowly backed away and gave her a nervous smile.

"See you tomorrow at school." Troy said as he ran off home.

"Good guy, I like him." Gia thought while showing off a pleased smirk.

-Emma's home-

Honestly, Emma didn't want to go home. If she could have it her way, she would never go home. The only thing waiting for her at home was either an empty house or an angry dad. She was really hoping it was the first choice.

Emma slowly walked to her doorstep and quietly walked in. She closed the silently closed the door and ran halfway up the stairs before she heard her dad.

"Emma! I heard you come home, get your butt here right now!" Her dad, Marc, roared.

Not wanting to upset her father, she shakily walked back downstairs.

"And where do you think you've been? I got a call from the school that you missed the whole day! I pay for your education and this is what you do to me? You skip school and come home late?" he shouted.

"I can explain, I…"

"I don't give a damn!"

Marc stomped over to Emma, grabbed her arm tightly, and pushed her to the wall.

"You made my very special guest wait." Marc snarled.

Suddenly, a blonde woman with blue eyes came out of the kitchen, "Huh so this is the little slut you told me about. Maybe she was out getting knocked up with another guy." She snickered.

"No, I wasn't! Who the heck are you anyways? I was just…."

Emma was interrupted with a kick to the stomach, "You will not speak to her that way, show her some respect! Her name is Randi, and she will be your new step- mother whether you like it or not!" he shouted.

Emma's eyes widened in shock as she got back up, "You'll never be my mom! You're…"

Marc shoved Emma back onto the ground in pure anger, "I put you on the ground, you stay on the ground! Randi will be your new step-mother; you will obey and treat her correctly! I don't care about what you think, we're already engaged. You better not kill this one." He growled.

"But Dad, I never killed mom. I tried to save her! When we got in the accident, I tried to stop the bleeding! I wasn't even the one who hit the car!" Emma responded, trying to fight back the tears. She was used to getting beaten, but she couldn't handle all of this.

"You let her die! You could've done more! You put this on yourself, you deserve this." He said as he kicked her one final time in the shin.

Before Emma's mom died, Marc actually used to be a loving man. Once the love of his life died, he started drinking and smoking, causing him to become an extremely violent man. He snapped easily, blamed everything on Emma, and started mistreating her ever since. However, Marc would hide his abusive side when he went into public. For example, when the Moran family invited them over to dinner, he would put on a façade and pretend to be like the man he was before. No one would be able to believe that he became a twisted, abusive father. No one could be able to tell. And Marc made sure to keep it that way.

He would constantly threaten Emma and throw a few punches at her to make sure she knew he was serious. He knew that if he scared her enough, he could control her. Deep down, Emma wanted to believe that her father still loved her and would apologize, but she knew that her real father was long gone already. Her father was gone, her mother was gone, and she felt alone.

Emma whimpered in pain as she rubbed on her shin, she could already feel the bruise forming.

"Now go make me and Randi some dinner before I decide to stop being generous. Make it snappy!"

Not wanting to anger her father further, Emma picked herself up from the ground and limped to the kitchen.

"Why don't you just kick her out of the house already? She's a piece of trash that doesn't deserve a man like you taking care of her." Randi scoffed while wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Don't worry babe, that'll be the first thing I do on her eighteenth birthday. She'll be out of our way forever, and maybe she'll die on the streets if we're lucky." Marc replied as he started kissing her.

A few moments later, Emma brought their dinner and put it on the table next to them.

"Here's your dinner." Emma whispered.

"We can finish this later Randi." Marc said as he picked up his food. He took a bite and immediately spit it out.

"What the hell is this crap?" Marc howled as he threw the plate on the ground.

Emma flinched as pieces of the glass got caught into her leg.

"I just warmed up some of the leftovers in the fridge." Emma said faintly.

"You just can't do anything right, can you? Just get that cleaned up, and get out of my sight! I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night!"

Though the words were harsh, Emma felt relieved that she didn't have to be in her dad's presence anymore. She rapidly cleaned up the mess and hastily retreated into her room. Once she was safe in her room, she locked the door, jumped on her bed, and quietly sobbed to herself. She felt afraid. She felt alone. She felt like her life was a living nightmare. This wasn't home for Emma, it was hell.


	7. Denial

The next day, Emma agreed to meet up with Gia a couple of minutes before school started. Emma made sure to hide the new bruises on her legs by wearing long jeans instead of her usual pink shorts. She knew that if someone saw her new injuries, they would definitely question it. Deep down inside, Emma wanted to scream for help, but she was more terrified of what her father would do to her if he found out that she told someone about his abusive actions. His anger was erratic when he lashed out, he could probably even kill Emma if he wanted to. How could she fight the aliens if she was frightened by her own dad? Shaking her head to keep the thoughts away, Emma closed her locker and saw Gia walking towards her.

"Hey Gia!" Emma smiled as she closed her locker

"Morning Emma…. whoa" Gia exclaimed while pointing to her jeans, "New look?"

"Yeah, it's starting to get cold so I decided to try wearing jeans. Just to try something new. "

"Hmm, not saying it looks bad, but it might take me a while to get used to. You've always worn those pink shorts.

Just then, the warning bell rang, signaling that they only had five minutes before class started.

"We better start heading to class before we're late" Emma said as she started walking.

As Emma walked away, Gia noticed the slight limp on Emma's right leg. Concerned for her friend, she caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her. Emma flinched when Gia grabbed the same arm her dad grabbed her with. She was pretty sure there was bruise on the shape of his hand there.

Noticing the way Emma flinched when she touched her arm, Gia felt even more concerned. "Emma are you okay?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine."

Gia crossed her arms and gave Emma a frown. "Emma, you need to stop this! I know you're not okay! I saw the way you flinched when I grabbed your arm; I wasn't even gripping it that hard! I saw the slight limp on your leg! I know about the bruise on your neck, Em you can't hide these things from me!

Gia gently grabbed Emma's arm. "If someone is hurting you, you have to tell someone. You're only protecting them by keeping it to yourself. Tell me Em, is it a bully? A guy? Oh God no, please don't tell me you've been hurting yourself. I just can't watch you fall apart like this! Please tell me something, anything." Gia begged.

"No! I'm not hurting myself, how could you even think that?" Emma frowned. "Wait, I never told you about the bruise on my neck. How did you find out?

"Troy told me earlier. I…"

"He told you?" Emma interrupted.

"Well, yeah but that's not the point."

"He told you everything?" Emma questioned as she clutched her hand in frustration

"Yeah, but…."

"I trusted him!

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait. He never mentioned it had to stay between you. Besides, if something concerns you, then it concerns me. "

"I didn't think I would have to tell him to keep that conversation to himself! Why were you even talking to him about that?

"I couldn't keep standing in the sidelines. I needed to know…"

"Why can't you just mind your own business?

Emma stormed off angrily into Mr. Burley's class as the bell rang. On her way over, Troy happened to see Emma and walked up to her.

"Good morning Emma, how's it going?" Troy asked with his usual soft smile.

"Leave me alone." Emma growled as she continued to stomp her way over to her class.

Confused by Emma's response, Troy ran up to Gia, hoping that she had an answer to Emma's reaction. "Please tell me you're not the cause of Emma's outburst.

When he saw the guilty look on Gia's face he immediately knew the answer. "What happened?" Troy asked.

"I accidentally slipped out that you told me about the whole bruise thing. Then, she started asking me more questions and I couldn't bring myself lie to her. I didn't even know that conversation between you and Emma was supposed to be private."

"Me either." Troy groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair."I told you to be patient and to wait for her to open up by herself!"

"I just wanted to help her." Gia muttered.

"Look, maybe we can sort this whole thing out afterschool. For now, just give Emma some space so she can cool down."

-Afterschool-

Once school ended, Emma bolted out of her classroom for two reasons. First of all, she didn't want to see or talk to Gia and Troy. She wasn't even that mad at them, but it felt like her two closest friends betrayed her. Secondly, her dad texted her earlier that he was going to pick her up and she definitely didn't want to keep her dad waiting for long.

"Emma, wait!" Both Troy and Gia called.

Knowing that it was no use to ignore them, she turned around.

"What do you want?" Emma groaned in annoyance. She then pointed to the exit door where she could see her dad coming in. "My dad is picking me up; I really don't want to keep him waiting."

"Here I'll go talk to him to keep him busy." Gia offered. "Troy, speak on my behalf too."

"No! Don't!" Emma panicked while desperately reaching out to grab Gia's arm, but it was already too late. Gia slipped past her grip and started to make a conversation with her dad. Emma just hoped it had nothing to do with her injuries, or else she would never hear the end of it once she got home.

Noticing Emma's reaction, Troy gently grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her away from her dad's sight. "This has something to do at home, doesn't it?" Troy asked in a kind yet concerned voice.

"No." She murmured in a barely audible voice. Emma turned away and looked at the ground. "Just please stay out of this. Both you and Gia need to stop bringing this up. Please, I'm begging you."

Those words made Troy's heart sink. Seeing her so vulnerable and hurt made him want to protect her even more.

Sighing in defeat, Troy gave Emma a friendly hug and whispered into her ear, "We'll get to the bottom of this. We'll find a way to help you."

"Don't"

Emma pulled away, shook her head in disapproval, and walked away. She wanted to emphasize the dangers of them helping her, but she was fearful of what would happen if she made her father wait any longer.

On the other hand, Gia was trying to stall Mr. Goodall until Troy finished talking to Emma.

"Sorry Gia, but I really need to go get Emma then head on home. I needed to have a serious talk with her."

Gia furrowed her brow, "A serious talk? Did something happen?" Gia asked as if she knew nothing.

"No, it's a personal family matter; nothing too serious." Mr. Goodall replied casually while trying to cover up his mistake.

Because Gia didn't know about Mr. Goodall's violent side, she thought that he was still a kind man who deeply cared for his daughter. Even Gia never expected Mr. Goodall to be the very source of Emma's pain.

Looking around to make sure no one could hear them, Gia whispered, "Does it have something to do Emma's injuries?"

Mr. Goodall widened his eyes, but not because he was shocked. He was fully aware of the bruises that he caused; the real question was, why did Gia know? "No, I didn't know at all! When? Where? Why? How?" He asked as if he was stunned. Behind his façade, he was pissed that Emma let the others know about her bruises. If anyone caught on, his life would be spent in jail. He wouldn't let that happen, he would emphasize that with Emma when he got home, but for now, he needed to seem as innocent as possible.

"I can't believe that she would hide something like that from me" He walked over and leaned on the wall with his hands on his hand.

"It's just been so hard after Emma's mom died. I don't know what to do anymore."

Feeling bad for the single father, Gia gave him a comforting squeeze on his shoulder. "It'll be okay . If you ever need anything, just call. I'm pretty sure that my family would be more than happy to help you out."

In the corner of his eye, could see Emma walking up to him so he could finally go home. After this close call, he would make sure she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"Thank you Gia, but I really have to go home now. Let's go Emma." He said as he took Emma's arm and guided her out.

Once they were out of sight, he tightened his grip around Emma and pushed her against the car door."Get inside the car! You'll receive a more fitting punishment at home! For now, just keep your blabbering mouth closed!" he demanded.

Frightened, Emma curled up into a ball in the back seat and prayed for a miracle. She didn't want this anymore. She didn't even want to think about what her father would do to her when she got home.

"Help" she whispered.

-School-

"Gia!" Troy raced over, "Did she leave yet?"

"Yeah, she just left with her Dad"

"What's Emma's address?"

"3871 Chesterfield Lane. Why? What are you doing?" Gia questioned as she saw Troy gathering up his stuff.

"I'm done sitting on the sidelines too. I'm going to go do some researching."

"Wait, I want to help too."

Troy knew about the close relationship between the Goodall and Moran family. He had his suspicions, but he couldn't be quite sure just yet. If Gia knew that he distrusted Mr. Goodall, who was almost like her second father, she could get offended and become defensive. Instead of her helping him, she could become more of an obstacle.

"It's fine; this is more of a solo mission. Go hang out with the guys or something" Troy yelled as he ran out of the door.


	8. Conflicted and Confused

When Emma and her dad got home, she was immediately met with a fist to the stomach.

"You're not getting off easy this time" He screamed while leaving Emma to go close the blinds

"How dare you let someone find out!"

He then took Emma's arm and roughly dragged her into the dining room. Emma curled up into a tight ball as a way to protect herself as her father repeatedly hit her. When he saw Emma's blood on his hands, his anger fueled even more.

"This won't happen again, you hear me!" Mr. Goodall shouted as he threw another punch.

Unbeknownst to them, Troy was right outside their house. Silently, he opened one of the windows and slightly pulled on the blinds so he could see what was happening. He honestly hoped that his accusations were wrong, and that it was all just in his head. When he saw beating on Emma, his heart raced and became boiling with anger. He wanted to burst in and beat the absolute crap out of him, but he knew it wasn't the right time; he needed more evidence and a witness.

In Emma's perspective, she could see Troy peeking into her house. Though her dad was constantly punching and kicking her, she had learned to block it all out. After all, his beating seemed to be like a daily routine to her.

However, she couldn't stand if one of her friends got hurt, especially Troy. In fact, her dad would threaten Emma to keep these secrets, or else he would hurt those who were close to her. Troy was one of the first guys to show loyalty and kindness to her, he didn't deserve her and all of her burdens. Now that Troy knew her secret, she became afraid of what would happen next. Surely, he would tell everyone and her father would somehow find out. Before they could get a chance to save her, Emma was positive that she would be dead by then. All these thoughts raced through Emma's head but for now, she needed to get him out of there before her dad noticed him, and fast!

Mr. Goodall seemed to read Emma's mind and looked to what she was staring at. His eyes widened in fury as he recognized one of Emma's friends. When Troy and made eye contact, Troy immediately started to run. Mr Goodal thought about going after him, but he knew that there would be no point to chase him. He was younger and most likely had more stamina. However, he wasn't entirely worried. No one would believe him; after all, he always seemed to be a "good" father to everyone. A smirk appeared on his face as a plan formed through his head.

"Hey Emma, have you missed Randi?" He asked maliciously.

-Ernie's BrainFreeze-

Troy's lungs were burning as he ran to Ernie's BrainFreeze. While Troy was running for his life, he managed to text everyone on the team to meet up with him at Ernie's BrainFreeze. When he finally got there, he took one last glance behind him. He was surprised to see that hadn't followed him, but decided to not question it. He eventually saw everyone sitting at a table near the corner of the shop.

"I know why Emma's been acting differently." Troy said frantically. "I don't know the whole story, but I do know that her dad has been physically abusing her. I saw him hit her!

Before he could continue, Troy was met with a fist to the face. As he got back up, he could feel Gia's glare piercing through him. Jake immediately got up and grabbed Gia by the arm in a gentle yet firm hold.

"How could you say that Troy?! Mr. Goodall is a good man! He practically helped raise me! There is no way he could do something like that to Emma!" Gia screamed.

"I'm sorry Gia, but this isn't something I would lie about."

"Where's your proof?"

"I didn't get a chance to get any, but.."

"No proof, so I'm not believing."

"Gia please, we need to find a way to bring Emma's dad to justice. He's hurting her, he's hurting your best friend."

"There's no way he would, you filthy liar!"

"Gia, I don't think this is something Troy would lie about. I mean c'mon, he Troy. Plus, it's the only logical solution you guys have right now. " Noah pointed out.

"It's not logical, its bull…"

"Gia!"

Feeling like she couldn't trust anyone, Gia stomped out of the store in frustration. She was going to get answers, and she was going to get it her own way.

"Wait, Gia!" Jake called as he tried going after her. However, he was grabbed by the arm by Troy who was shaking his head.

"We need to wait for her to cool off, she isn't going to listen to anyone in that state."

"Mind filling us in on what's happened. I tried backing you up there, but I don't really know what's going on."Noah asked.

"Yeah dude, you better have a good explanation for this." Jake added.

Releasing a big sigh, Troy decided to fill them in on what happened.

"It started when…"

-Behind a Mask-

Gia couldn't believe what she had just heard. And here she was thinking that Troy could actually be a good boyfriend for Emma. How could he accuse Emma's dad like that, he's always been a good man in her eyes. Or, that's what she thought.

To get to the bottom of this, Gia decided to pay a visit. She wanted to at least to talk him about all of this. Maybe he would know what was troubling Emma. Once she knocked on the door, Mr. Goodall opened the door with an innocent smile

"Hello Gia, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Mr. Goodall, can we talk?"

"Sorry Gia, but this isn't a good time."

"Please, it's about Emma. Emma's friend, Troy, accused you of abusing Emma. He claims that he saw you hitting her earlier."

For the sake of the plan, Mr. Goodall pretended to look hurt and shocked.

"Me? No! I could never do something like that to Emma! She's my whole life, she's all I have left"

With a satisfied smile, Gia had to do one last thing to confirm if Emma was okay.

"Is it okay if I see Emma real quick, I just need to talk to her for a little?"

"I'm afraid you can't do it right now Gia. Emma said she wanted some alone time."

Once Marc had closed the door, he went downstairs into the basement where Emma was lying on the floor tied up with duck tape covering her mouths. There were bruises, cuts, and other injuries everywhere; She was a black and blue mess! Satisfied with seeing the unconscious Emma on the floor, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey babe, I got a plan. I finally have a way to get rid of Emma, but a few obstacles have come in the way, but there's no need to fear. I have an idea to make this work. So the plan is…."

Not wanting to push his buttons, Gia thanked and made her way back home. She didn't live very far, so she decided to just walk. On her way home, Gia could hear pained sobs. After looking around the area, she found a middle aged women with sandy blonde hair crying.

"Uhh, are you okay Miss?" Gia asked cautiously.

"Please, oh please. I need your help!" The mysterious women begged.

"What's wrong?"

"My current boyfriend's daughter has been threatening me. She even punched me in the face to prove her point "The women exclaimed while facing Gia so she could see her black eye.

Feeling sympathy for the women, she decided to help her out a little. Maybe she could call the cops for her, or send her to the hospital in case she had sustained any other injuries

"What're their names?"

"My boyfriend's name is Marc Goodall."

Hearing this, Gia felt a lump in the back of her throat and froze. She could recognize that name anywhere after all, that was the name of Emma's dad.

"The one that hit me was his daughter, Emma. Please Gia, you need to help me, I love Marc, and he's a good man. He has no idea what Emma has been doing to me though, I can't just blurt out that she's been threatening me. He'll never believe me."

Gia couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. She couldn't tell who was telling the truth anymore, what this woman had told her had been the exact opposite of what Troy had told her. However, this woman was still a stranger after all, and Troy was her team mate. Then again, Troy has only been her teammate for a few months too. There was no way Gia could ever think that any of these events could happen; Emma was her best friend, and Mr. Goodall was like a second father. Feeling confused and conflicted, Gia gently grabbed the woman's hand and guided her to Mr. Goodall's house.

"Where are we going?"

"To get answers." Gia replied hastily.

"Now what's your name?"

"My name is Randi."

**Sorry, it's been a very long time since I've updated. Unfortunately, I got really busy with my personal life and it may remain like this for a while. I'll update whenever I have the free time. I love doing this, it's just a matter of finding the time to do it. Thank you to everyone who has left a review, I really appreciate reading them and getting the feedback. Until next time!**


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